The large, plastic balls in a dazzling range of colors parted as little Tanner pushed his way to the edge of the pit. He couldn't simply remain in the ball pit. More kids were plunging down the slide every minute, and some of them looked even bigger than the kid who had bullied him and robbed him of his pull-ups.
All he had wanted was to enjoy a bit of child-like innocence, but he had forgotten just how ruthless kids can be with each other. Tanner suddenly wanted to get to Derrick. His big brother would make it all better. Of course, he reminded himself that Derrick was only the big brother thanks to the Chronivac. In this big, bad world, however, Derrick represented security. He steeled himself and climbed out of the pit. As he made deliberate steps across the playground, his bare little butt on view for the whole world, mothers gasped, fathers looked disapproving and kids pointed and laughed at one of their own so shamelessly flouting the rules. He was able to hold his tiny hands across his crotch to at least shield his tiny nub from prying eyes.
The blush covering his face grew more extensive. Finding Derrick became a challenge as he realized there was no way to see over most of the crowd in the playground area. He was below the knees of most of the adults, and as he wandered aimlessly, he began to feel panic. What if he couldn't find Derrick?
"That boy's naked!" A little girl squealed to her mother.
The adult woman frowned severely as she looked in Tanner's direction. She grabbed her daughter's hand and tugged the girl out of Tanner's path, but the woman's look was withering.
"It's not my fault!" Tanner wanted to scream at her. Wisely, he kept silent. He felt so exposed he wanted to find a shrub and hide behind it. He was ready to pursue that option when he saw Derrick.
He raced on his stubby legs the final yards, not stopping until he was able to reach out and tug at the hem of Derrick's shirt.
"Derwick!" Tanner said. "Thank god I found you!"
Derrick turned and looked down, shocked to see Tanner in all his birthday suit glory.
Before Derrick could even get a word out, another guy crowded behind Derrick's shoulder and looked down at Tanner, who froze in his steps. He recognized the guy. Travis Taylor! One of the arrogant football jocks at the high school, Travis was also the arrogant, smug guy who had stolen Tanner's girlfriend.
"Who's this little jay bird?" Travis asked, looking down with a smirk that Tanner wished he could wipe off that unfairly handsome face.